


Just Friends

by Dragongoddess13



Series: Ghost Whisperer AU [7]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Ghost Whisperer AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:02:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24447772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragongoddess13/pseuds/Dragongoddess13
Summary: Podrick has been giving him a hard time for months now about her, he seems to think there’s more between them than friendship, but Gendry knows better. Arya is nothing more than a friend, someone who let him into her space and gave him something to do to distract himself from the difficulty he had been having with the King’s Park Case. She herself had been having her problems with it, more so than his own really, but she was still there for him, still letting him in when, historically, she hadn’t let anyone in in quite some time.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Series: Ghost Whisperer AU [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715362
Comments: 36
Kudos: 157





	1. Gendry

Just Friends

Chapter 1: Gendry

xXx

Gendry’s alarm sounds, some obnoxious radio host he can’t stand and he slams his hand down on the switch, turning it off. He groans, rolling over. Today is his scheduled day off and he has every intention of staying in. Not that that’s different from any of his other days off, mind you. 

Well, he supposes that’s not entirely true, not as of late anyway. It seems more often than not in the last year or more, he’s found himself at Arya’s home on his days off. Hanging wallpaper, and fixing drywall, even kicking the shit out of the door in the basement store room that won’t open no matter what he does to it. It’s not how most people would choose to spend their days off, not after working forty plus hour weeks, but Gendry loves it. He’s always enjoyed working with his hands, building things and had he had the money at the time he would have gone to engineering school rather than community college, but that was a road not taken and he did his best not to dwell on those. 

Gendry pulls himself from bed and goes about his morning ablutions. When all that is finished he dresses and makes a pot of coffee before making his way over to the little desk in the corner of his sitting room. It faces the wall and is relatively sparse except for the stacks of files and the dinky little pen cup he keeps a few dried up pens and broken pencils in. He takes a seat, picking up his one good pen where it sits on top of a file and opens said file. He’s read this file a dozen times, probably more, since he pulled it and it’s corresponding evidence box out of the archives and all he’s managed to get out of it is a list of ideas and a headache from all the dust. These sorts of cases are never easy to solve which is why they go cold so often, but Gendry has the motivation to do what he can, so he will. He won’t lie though, there’s not a lot of hope and the personal connection isn’t making this any easier. 

Gendry sighs, rolling his shoulders and settling in to read the responding officers report yet again.

_ “On eight July, at around two a.m Witness, Arya Stark (33), was riding in the passenger's seat of the vehicle, a green Tyrell Jeep owned by Lawrence “Lommy” Greenhands. They were traveling west on Old Sawmill Road heading for King’s Landing City Center, approaching a four way stop. Witness indicates that the driver did stop, looked both ways, saw nothing and proceeded forward. Within seconds of entering the intersection they were t-boned by a large vehicle. Witness describes it as a pick up of some kind, dark colored and an older model. Witness says she was unconscious immediately after.  _

_ Upon waking in the car, witness claims there was a man looking through her window, but it was too dark to see any substantial detail (see attached witness sketch). Witness claims the man saw her waking up, cursed and ran away. That is when she saw the car. Witness is a medical professional. After assessing herself for injuries, of which there were many (see attached emergency room report) she forced her way out of the car and crawled to the other side where she removed the driver, Lawrence “Lommy” Greenhands (34), and began emergency triage procedures to no avail. Lawrence “Lommy” Greenhands was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics as two thirty-six a.m.  _

_ Witness claims she could hear the truck speed away, the muffler sounded damaged, the tires squealed as it sped away. Rubber burns were found on the road. Witness says at the scene she smelled alcohol, however, later remembered there was a bottle of wine in the back seat, which was purchased from a winery on their way home from a weekend trip to Dorne.  _

_ Cannot rule out that the other driver was under the influence at the time. Witness and driver tested negative for drugs and alcohol. DA concludes culpability lies with the hit and run driver.” _

The first time Gendry read the report he had to take a moment to compose himself. All he could see was Arya kneeling over him in the bank, her hands shaking as she tries to stop his arm from bleeding. She had been uninjured then, but looking at the emergency room report on her injuries after the accident, broken leg, fractured wrist, concussion, fractured ribs, broken nose, lacerations and bruises, he didn’t want to imagine her crawling around that car on a broken leg, undoubtedly ignoring the pain to get to her friend only to realize that it was too late. He wasn’t too big to admit he cried a bit at the thought of tiny little Arya with her big heart and caring nature dragging herself from a wreck that very well could have claimed her life as well, only to find out that it was all for nothing, that her best friend was gone and there was nothing she could for him. Was it really any wonder that she had lost confidence in her abilities? 

That’s what made Gendry so angry, honestly. That some asshole, driving without his headlights on, probably drunk or fooling around, had not only taken the life of an innocent man and gotten away with it for two years, but had also destroyed the life of such a kind, caring, talented woman. A woman who gave her own life, everyday to helping people only to have it all snatched away. He wanted to rage, to find this man and make him pay, and he was going to. 

Gendry put pen to paper and began writing down his ideas for the case. The original investigators were limited in what they could do. With one witness who was injured and not remembering things clearly, and another dead, there wasn’t much to go on. They had released the police sketch to the media and the vague description of the truck but even the most eager civilian couldn’t make heads or tails of what they had. Normally he wouldn’t second guess another cop for that very reason, but upon opening the file, he realized rather quickly it was his duty to do exactly that. 

The original responding officer had been none other than Henry Ludo. He was two years in and getting ready for a transfer to Drug Enforcement according to his file. This accident was his last case before his transfer was complete and if he was even remotely like the man he was now, then Gendry put very little stock into any of this information. If not for the fact that a higher ranking officer had taken over after the initial investigation, Gendry would feel inclined to scrap the entire case file and start from scratch. His witness statement and reports seemed on the up and up, but considering what Ludo said to Arya in the bank the month previous, he either didn’t remember her, or hadn’t actually been paying attention beyond what he needed to know to make the report look good. 

The original investigation's only saving grace, as he had said before, was the fact that another officer had taken over relatively quickly. Gendry wasn’t totally familiar with Officer Debenham, but he’d heard enough through the grapevine to trust she’d done what she could at the time. 

What they hadn’t done was talk to any mechanics in the area or scrap yards for that matter, at least not well after the fact. Assuming the driver was smart enough not to scrap his car or take it in to get repaired immediately after the accident, he would have had to do something with it at some point. It was more than likely he waited until the heat died down, making it seem like his accident was more recent. 

Additionally he wants to walk the scene of the accident with someone who has experience in accident investigation, specifically Podrick. He’d already spoken to him about it, dropping off the box of evidence one afternoon. He’d readily agreed, happy to help Arya in any way he could. There was a part of him that was a little surprised by how eager he was to help. Podrick complained about his backlog of work constantly, Gendry couldn’t imagine why he would want to add more to his workload. He supposes that’s just the kind of influence Arya has on people though. He himself had made a few changes in his life directly connected to her, and it made sense that a guy like Podrick who was open and personable would be drawn to her as well. 

He’s not sure why that bothers him. Podrick has been giving him a hard time for months now about her, he seems to think there’s more between them than friendship, but Gendry knows better. Arya is nothing more than a friend, someone who let him into her space and gave him something to do to distract himself from the difficulty he had been having with the King’s Park Case. She herself had been having her problems with it, more so than his own really, but she was still there for him, still letting him in when, historically, she hadn’t let anyone in in quite some time. 

Gendry works all morning, then packs up his files, grabs his keys, phone and badge and walks out the front door. Throughout the morning he’d done his research, searching out all the mechanics garages and scrap yards for the area surrounding the crossroads where the accident happened. The nature of the accident would not have allowed the suspect to go far in his damaged car and since they hadn’t found it abandoned, it had to be assumed that he lived in the area and would more than likely seek help in the area as well. 

Gendry plots the garages and yards on a paper map and moves in a line, stopping at each one to ask anyone who was working two years previous. A few were closed, having gone out of business, but the ones that were still open couldn’t really do much to help. Either their own records didn’t go back that far or they did and there was nothing in them. A few of them were adamant they would remember a car coming in like that, because they remembered hearing about the hit and run accident and would have been on alert. That’s actually good to hear, and it gives Gendry hope that the few stops left may hold the answers he’s looking for. 

Around mid afternoon he pulls into the gravel lot of a scrap yard six miles south of the crossroads. It’s nearing September and the summer heat hasn’t let up at all. Heat wafts off the scrap metal and old cars stacked throughout the yard, stifling any cooling breeze that might blow through the piles of junk. 

“Something I can help you with?” a voice draws his attention toward the trailer that sits across the gravel lot, acting as an office. The man is tall, with greying hair on his head and face. He’s dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with the logo for the scrap yard printed across the front. 

Gendry approaches him, pulling his badge out of his pocket as he does. “I’m Detective Sergeant Waters, I’m looking into a cold case, a hit and run that happened in the area about two years ago, I was hoping I could ask you a few questions.” 

“Sure, I don't know if I can be of much help, but I’ll do my best.” he replies. 

“Well, I’m looking for the vehicle. Large late model truck, dark color, would have had major front end damage. Probably would have been surprising to see it still running.” 

“Honestly, I’ve gotten several like that over the years, but only a few in recent years.” the owner tells him. 

“Do you keep records?” Gendry asks. 

“Sure do, but they’re all paper records and several boxes were damaged after a pipe burst last month. We kept everything, dried it all out, so you're more than welcome to look through it, take what you think you need.” 

Thirty minutes later Gendry makes his way back to his car, a box of handwritten receipts under his arm. He sets them in the trunk and climbs in, making his way to the last few stops before driving back into the city. 

xXx

“Isn’t it your day off?” Podrick asks as he looks up from his computer. 

“It is.” Gendry replies simply, setting the file box on the edge of Podrick’s desk. 

“What’s this?” he asks. He pulls the box closer, taking the lid off. He makes a face when he pulls the dried papers out, the ink smeared and water stains crumpling the pages. 

“Handwritten receipts from a scrapyard six miles south of the scene of the accident.” Gendry explains. He doesn’t need to elaborate, Podrick knows exactly what accident he’s talking about. 

“What, you think the suspect scraped the car?” 

“It’s all I’ve got to go on right now.” he explains. “Can you read these pages, figure out what they said, maybe pull a name off one?” 

“Possibly. I can run them through a spectrograph, but I can’t promise anything.” 

Gendry nods. “Do your best, yeah?”

“Always.” Podrick takes the pages out, and bags them. “It’ll be a little while though. The process takes a bit and I’m backed up on a few priority cases.” 

“I understand, just let me know what you find.”

“No mate, I figure I’ll just keep it to myself.” he teases, laughing as Gendry huffs, shaking his head. 

“Arse.” Gendry mutters under his breath. “Just, make sure Arya doesn’t hear about this okay. I don’t want to get her hopes up if nothing comes of this.” 

“You got it. Speaking of whom. We’re goin’ out for drinks tonight, you in?” 

“Who?” 

“Me and Arya.” Gendry hesitates, which is the wrong thing to do. Podrick smirks knowingly. Thankfully he doesn’t say anything. “We’re meeting at The Peach on Rockford Street around six.” 

“Uh, yeah, sure, why not. I’m not doing anything.”

“Go figure.” Podrick replies sarcastically.

Gendry glares at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“You know what it means, stop being dense.” 

Gendry shakes his head, waving Podrick off. “Whatever, see you tonight.” he says, turning and stalking out. 

xXx

The bar is packed but Gendry, standing so high above everyone else, spots Arya and Podrick across the room at a table near the back. As he approaches he watches as Podrick says something, Arya laughing boisterously in reply. There’s been a knot in his chest since that afternoon, when Podrick admitted he and Arya intended to meet up that night. He was not proud to admit he had proceeded to overthink things for the rest of the afternoon, wondering if Podrick would have bothered to call him if he hadn’t shown up at the lab. He’s not sure he wants to know the answer and he certainly doesn’t want to think about why it bothers him that Arya and Podrick are so close. 

When he’s about half way there, Arya spots him, her face lighting up with a smile, bright and large and just for him. The knot disappears and he nearly stops short as realization hits him. 

_ “Well fuck.” _ he thinks to himself as he reaches the table, taking the last seat left. 

“You know when Podrick told me you were coming tonight, I almost didn’t believe him.” she laughs as she scowls at her. 

“I’m not that bad.” he argues, knowing it’s a lie. So he prefers to stay in most nights, there’s nothing wrong with that. 

“You really are,” she replies. “But it’s okay, we like you just the way you are.” 

“Fuck that.” Podrick explains. “You could be a little nicer to me.” 

Gendry scoffs, rolling his eyes. “When am I ever not nice to you?” 

“All the time.” Podrick turns to Arya who’s laughing at their antics. “I swear he’s one step away from a yelling get off my lawn every time I get near his desk.” 

Gendry looks put out. “How much have you had to drink already?”

“Only the one.” Arya answers for him. “But I think he’s a bit of a light weight.” 

“Am not.” 

This time Gendry laughs along, feeling himself relax into the company. They order more drinks, food, and even play a few games of darts. It’s a great night all in and all and Gendry can’t remember the last time he’s had this much fun in such a crowded place. 

As the evening winds down, they take Podrick’s keys, pouring him into a cab after he promises that his roommates should still be up to help him into the house when he gets home. Making him promise to call in the morning, they close the door and watch the cab disappear around a corner. 

“Come on, I’ll give you a ride home.” Gendry tells her when it’s gone. He gestures in the opposite direction where he parked his car and they start walking that way, Arya looping her arm through his as they go. 

As he pulls into her driveway not long after and wishes her a good night, the knot returns, this time the emotions attached much different than the last. He watches as she ascends the front steps, taking a moment to get the door open. The knot tightens as the door shuts between them and he curses under his breath. 

He really hates when Podrick is right. 


	2. Arya

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're nearing the half way point of this series. The next story will be a sort of transition into an improved state of mind for certain characters.

Just Friends

Chapter 2: Arya

xXx

“So, how are you feeling today?” Dr. Marya Seaworth is an older woman of medium height with long grey hair that she keeps pinned back away from her face. She’s soft spoken and warm and from what Arya can tell in the three short sessions they’ve had together, she appears to be the perfect fit for her husband’s own steady personality. 

“Well,” Arya begins taking a deep breath. “A little nervous. I’ve been thinking about my new job for a few days now.” 

“Do you feel like you may be rushing back in too quickly?” Marya asks. 

“No, I just… it’s not the same as my last position in the medical field. I’m worried I won’t handle it as well. You know, working in a clinic isn’t the same as working in the ER.” 

“That’s understandable. Unfortunately you won’t know for sure until you're in that situation again.” Marya tells her. “All you can do is take it one step at a time.” 

Arya nods. “I just… I like the adrenaline rush, I always have. I’m worried I won’t like my job without it.” she smiles ruefully. “But I guess that falls into the category you won’t know until you try.”

Marya chuckles. “Now you’re getting it.” 

Arya smiles softly, picking at her fingernails. It’s a nervous habit she’s had since she was a child, and unfortunately, despite every effort to stop, it usually came back when she was feeling a little too stressed. 

“Now, remind me how you came across this clinic.” Marya continues. 

“A friend of the family. Stannis Baratheon. His older brother Robert and my dad are really close and honestly all my aunts and uncles grew up with the Baratheon brothers. He runs a lot of foundations for his family and among them are a chain of free clinics in various cities. He’s been trying to get me to work for his clinics for awhile, so I finally decided to take him up on his offers.” 

“And you start Monday?” Arya nods. “Have you told your family yet?” 

Arya hesitates. “No, I, uh, I was going to wait to make sure that it stuck this time.” she explains. “Don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.” 

“Understandable. How is your family doing, by the way. The first time you came in you had just seen them for your birthday. Have you spoken to any of them since?” 

“Sure, I talk to Sansa several times a week. I don’t think she’ll ever let me get away with not talking to her. She and Margaery are working on getting their kids into private schools. Lisa, the oldest, she’s really showing interest in science and they want to send her to a school that will nurture that. Lucas and Jack are kind of all over the place with their interests though, so they have a few more options for schools.” 

“You have a lot of nieces and nephews don’t you?” 

“Yeah, seven at the moment, soon to be eight.” Arya replies. “Robb and Jeyne’s kids, Ned and Lily are the oldest. Ned started fifth grade last week and Lily started third. Sansa and Margaery’s triplets start first grade next September. Rickon and Lyanna are expecting a little boy in January and Jon and Ygritte’s twins, Darcy and Tala started Kindergarten this year.” as she mentions Darcy and Tala, her voice drifts off. 

“Something wrong?” Marya asks. 

Arya opens her mouth to reply but it takes a few tries to get the words out. “Ygritte mentioned last week that the girls were potentially showing early signs of… well, you know.” she shrugs. “They’ve been having the standard strange dreams and imaginary friends.” 

“That would make them the first in the new generation to show the Stark abilities, wouldn’t it?” 

Arya nods. “Yeah, Lily never did, though she could be a late bloomer, it’s been known to happen and Lisa is adopted so it’s a non issue with her.” 

“You’re hoping it doesn’t though, aren’t you? For Lily that is.” 

“Of course.” she replies without hesitation. “I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. Especially not my nieces.” 

“Even with all the good you’ve done with your gift?” 

“All the good you do will never amount to all the shit you have to deal with.” Arya tells her, adment. “The weird dreams and being made sick by the presence of spirits. Nightmares and visions and just seeing things that shouldn’t be there.” she takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. 

“Even the crimes you’ve helped solve?” Marya asks softly. “The souls that were laid to rest by their families because you saw them, you identified them, you sent them home after decades of being lost.” Arya doesn’t reply, staring down at her hands in her lap. “Those girls, the Walkers, I bet they’re grateful for your gift. Getting justice, getting to say goodbye to their uncle.” 

“It’s not enough.” Arya replies, not looking up. “It’s not enough, when you’re so sick you can’t move. When you wake up at three am to hear noises that no one else can hear. When you hear screaming in your head and feel terror and it’s not yours. It's not enough when you can be hurt and attacked by something, but you can’t fight back, can’t even defend yourself.” she shakes her head. “It's not enough when you see things, important things, but you can’t say anything, because history has shown you that the people you thought cared about you will leave you if you tell them, if you get involved.” 

“Do you mean Lommy?” she asks. 

“Among others.” Arya replies. “I mean, yeah, Lommy eventually came back, but he’s not the only person who decided I wasn’t worth it, wasn’t worth the trouble.” 

“Detective Waters doesn’t seem to believe that.” 

Arya huffs a humorless laugh. “Right now I’m useful to him, in different ways. But one day, I might not be anymore, or things might get complicated and he’ll have to ask himself if the friendship we’ve got is worth all the drama that comes with dealing with something you can’t see.” she pauses. “He’s so different from everyone else that I want to believe he wouldn’t, but I’ve been burned so many times I just…” she leaves the comment hanging, certain Marya understands. 

“Have you talked to your aunt about all of this? Certainly of anyone, she would understand how you feel. She may even know how to help you with these feelings, these fears.” 

Arya shakes her head again, finally looking up at Marya. “She has enough to worry about.” she sighs. “I’ve made such a big deal about remaining as detached as possible, it just seems selfish to suddenly ask her to drop everything and hear me out.” 

“She’s your aunt, and she loves you.” Marya replies. “And when you’re ready to confide in her, I’d bet anything that she will be there, ready to listen.” she closes her pen, clipping it to her notepad and setting it aside. “Now, time is almost up so I want you to do something for me. I want you to consider the possibility of opening up to your gift. I want you to seriously weigh the benefits and detractors of learning your family history, learning about it’s gift. We’ll talk about it next week when we meet.” 

Arya hesitates, but eventually nods in agreement, taking a long slow deep breath through her nose. 

As they get up, Marya leads Arya to the door and the older woman asks. “So, any plans for the evening?” 

“I’m going out for drinks with my friend Podrick.” Arya explains. “He’s apparently been bogged down with work and needs to blow off steam.” 

“Sounds like fun.”

“Yeah, it should be. I’ve discovered he’s good people.” she chuckles. “A little dramatic, but a good guy.” 

“Well, I hope you have a good time. Relax a bit, take a load off and try not to get stuck in your own head too much.” 

xXx

“Hey!” Podrick is so excited to see her, she’s almost knocked off her feet by the force of his smile. Arya finds she can’t stop her own smile, leaning in to accept the hug he offers. She takes one of the three seats at the table. “I ran into Gendry this afternoon. I hope you don’t mind, I invited him too.” 

“Not at all, I can’t believe he’s actually going to leave the house. What was he doing? Wasn’t today his day off.” 

Podrick rolls his eyes. “Yes. He came in to ask for my help with something. He’s working another cold case in his off time.” 

Arya sighs. “That man is such a workaholic.” she complains. 

“Tell me about it. He needs to get laid or something, maybe find himself a girlfriend so he has something else to distract him.” 

Arya laughs, but it’s half hearted at best. She can’t explain why her heart has suddenly dropped out of her chest, or why her good mood has suddenly soured. She tries to push it aside, but it lingers, even as Podrick continues their conversation. A weight settles in the pit of her stomach, sinking in like a lead weight. Discreetly she looks around, trying to spot something no one else can see to explain the sudden feelings. Unfortunately the bar is a little too crowded for that and she’s forced to turn her attention back to Podrick. 

Podrick is telling her a funny story about Gendry, something about an embarrassing moment during a case and while she laughs at the thought of Gendry with egg on his face, that gut clenching feeling has settled in and she doesn’t see it going anywhere anytime soon. At least she didn’t think so, until she spots Gendry walking toward them. He looks so handsome in his casual black t-shirt, jeans and black leather boots, and she smiles brightly at him as he stops beside the table, slipping into the remaining seat. She ignores the nagging voice in the back of her mind that sounds distinctly like Ygritte and says; 

“You know when Podrick told me you were coming tonight, I almost didn’t believe him.” he scowls and she laughs at the sight of it. It’s such a common look on his face that anytime she thinks about him, he’s almost always wearing a scowl. 

“I’m not that bad.” he replies. It’s amazing how well the lie rolls off his tongue. 

“You really are,” she replies. “But it’s okay, we like you just the way you are.” 

Podrick cuts in, already finished with his first drink. He really hadn’t been joking about needing to cut loose. “Fuck that. You could be a little nicer to me.” 

Gendry scoffs, rolling his eyes. “When am I ever not nice to you?” 

“All the time.” Podrick turns to Arya who’s laughing at their antics. “I swear he’s one step away from a yelling get off my lawn every time I get near his desk.” 

Gendry looks put out and Arya has to admit it’s a rather cute look on him. “How much have you had to drink already?”

“Only the one.” Arya answers for him. “But I think he’s a bit of a light weight.”

“Am not.” 

He really is, and by the end of the night they have to take his keys and put him in a cab. She makes him promise to call one of them in the morning, even sets a reminder in his phone after shooting off a text to one of his roommates to warn them he’s on his way back and is more than likely too sloshed to be trusted to make good choices. 

When the cab disappears around the corner, Gendry speaks up, offering her a ride home. She’s grateful for it, not looking forward to walking home this late at night. She doesn’t know why she does it, it just feels so natural to slip her arm through his as they walk, leaning against him, her own drinks making her head swim just a bit. He’s a warm, solid presence at her side and she finds herself completely forgetting about the ill feelings that had taken over earlier. That is until she steps through the door of her home and the realization hits her with the silence that permeates the building. 

She’s alone and while she had once wanted it that way, the idea no longer holds the same appeal. She turns to peak out the window beside the door and the sinking feeling in her chest returns as she watches Gendry back out of the driveway. 


End file.
